Big stars and old greats of the Greek parquet were present at the premiere of the All Star Game in Karditsa, but the European champions of the epic European Championship 2004, Thodoris Zagorakis and Angelos Charisteas, were also present at the big sports celebration in Thessaly.

The man who lifted the prestigious trophy that evening in Lisbon, Thodoris Zagorakis, spoke to him Sportish for his relationship with basketball, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikos Hatzis, who saw the basket as… a barrel and not only that.

– You left the soccer shoes, put on the basketball shoes and showed that you really enjoyed it…

“Basketballs are more comfortable, when you stop playing soccer, basketball is definitely more comfortable. He is also many years old (including the shoe he wore with his personal touch). Okay, that’s all nice talk, but what matters is that’s what he got this for.” For some reason this game was today, it coincided with the All Star, the basketball boys responded and we were honored to be invited, so we gladly accepted and were here.

– Karditsa suffered from the devastating floods and is based in a renovated stadium…

“Terrible stadium, terrible facilities. That’s the thing here, the wounds that as far as we know have not been closed, and all we can do in this case is help where we can and in any way we can.”

– We know you as a great football player. What is your relationship with basketball?

“It is one of the sports that I enjoy watching and playing at an amateur level, not professionally of course. My hobby is basketball, volleyball and stuff like that, so I like doing that.”

– Do you watch games?

“Many many. I watch games every week, as well as European and Greek championships, I really enjoy it.”

– Do you follow the career of NBA and Giannis Antetokounmpo?

“Yes, as much as I can. It’s a little difficult because of the time, but I’m watching as much as I can. Ok, Giannis, aside from making us all proud, I think he’s getting better with every day that goes by, and I hope that he’ll be on top of the world permanently.”

– For the 2004 Legends Games….

“Our base is the Legends, the All Star is something that happened and we found each other, the guys invited us and it was an honor for us, but with the Legends our constant purpose and goal is to be there “to be able to and to be” that help our society.”.

– Because turning your hobby into a career has put more pressure on the sport you love. Do you enjoy games like this after retiring from active duty?

“Of course you enjoy it, of course at a higher price, we also carry around the years that have nothing to do with each other. It’s true what you say that we turned our hobby into a profession, but just don’t think that most of the children you have something and master it easily, so it requires work, it requires effort and effort.

In response to a related question about whether he could keep up for another 20 to 30 minutes in a football game, Nikos Hatzis walked past us during the interview and Thodoris Zagorakis praised him with the words: “I don’t think so, but if you look, Hatzis sees the basket as a barrel.”